Stem-setting device



'(NO Model.)

B. A. MARSH.

STEM SETTING DEVICE. No: 324,570. Patented Aug. 18, 1885.

WITNE SE5 INVENTEIF]. 3 w'f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDYVARD A. MARSH, OF NE\VTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEM-SETTING DEVICE.

I 3CIIEICA'J'fION forming part of Letters Patent Nb. 324,570, dated August 18, 1885.

Application filed May 6, 1885.

To all whom, it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. MARSH, of Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Watch- Oases, of which the following is a specification.

In the form of pocket timepieces known as keyless or stem-winding watches, in which the winding is performed by means of an arbor or stem passing through the axis of the case-pendant, in connection with suitable mechanism which constitutes a part of the watch-movement, it is necessary to also provide means for moving and setting the hands whenever desired. This provision is commonly made in the form of a lever or cam, which, for the purpose of protection, is covered by the cover or bezel of the case. This fact necessitates the partial opening of the case to gain access to the lever when required for use, and in an open-face case exposes the delicate hands to danger of injury and makes liable the admission of particles of dust to the movement itself. Moreover, in a case in which the glass bezel is tightly fitted, the opening or removalof it is a matter of no little difficulty, especially by persons unaccustomed to such manipulations, which is the case with the large majority of watch-users.

To obviate the necessity for opening or removing the bezel, cases have been made which were provided with a slide or push piece projecting through the edge of the case, to be operated by the pressure of the thumb or finger; but this method of construction necessarily involves the serious objection of an opening through which dust can enter, besides being objectionable for other reasons. Gases have also been made in which the handsetting mechanism is brought into engagement by pulling or drawing out the winding stem or arbor a short distance, the case having a rocking lever engaged with said arbor at one end and turned on its fulcrum by the outward movement of the arbor, so as to cause its other end to move inwardly and thereby move the yoke so as to make the hand-setting train operative. If the watch-movement is designed and constructed to be so operated, it is not objectionable; but otherwise the swinging or rocking lever required to secure (N0 model.)

the needful movements is inconvenient and troublesome to operate, beside being a very serious obstacle to the insertion of the movement in the case and its removal from the case, and also requires a special form of winding-arbor.

My invention has for its object to overcome the objections above recited; and it consists in the combination, with the winding-stem, of a lever pivoted within the case at one side of the stem and extending across the latter so that an inward movement of the stem will move the free eudof the lever inwardly and cause said end to move the yoke sufficiently to make the hand-setting train operative, the lever requiring no positive connection with the stem, and being entirely contained-in a recess in the case, so that it does not interfere with the application and removal of the movement.

The invention also consists in the combination, with the lever and yoke, of a sliding piece interposed between the free end of the lever and the yoke, and communicating motion from the lever to the yoke, all of which I will now proceed to describe.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a front view of a watch-case center partly in section, and a movement inclosed therein, the dial being removed. Fig. 2 represents two views of the lever detached and the winding-pinion.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents the case-center, 1),, the winding-stem; and c, Fig. 2, the winding pinion, which is rotated by said stem, the pinion havinga square shank which enters a square socket in the end of the winding-arbor, although the socket may be in the shank of the winding-pinion and may receive a square end on the stem 1).

0 represents the swinging yoke, which carries the wheel d,which communicates motion from the crown-wheel eto the dial-train f and the wheel 9, which communicates motion from the crown-wheel to the mainspring wheel or barrel. A spring, 72, normally holds the yoke c in the position shown in Fig. 1, with the wheel 9 in engagement with the mainspringbarrel, so that the yoke is normally in position for winding.

i represents a lever which is hinged at j to the ease-center at one side of the winding stem, and extends across said stem, its cen tral portion being enlarged and provided with an orifice through which the shank of the winding-pinion passes. The inner end of the winding-stem bears on the enlarged portion of the lever i. The swinging end of the lever bears against the outer end of aslide, In, which bears at its inner end against a stud or pin on the yoke c.

It will be seen that an inward pressure on the winding-stem will move the swinging end of the lever t inwardly, and thus through the slide 7t move the yoke so as to engage the wheel (I with the dial-train and disengage the wheel 9 from the 1nainspring-barrel, so that the hands may be set by rotating the wind ing-stem when it is thus pressed inwardly. \Vhen the stem is released, the spring it restores the yoke to its normal position.

The lever i is located in a recess in the casecenter and does not project into the space occupied by the movement. There is no positive connection between the lever and the winding stem, the inner end of thelatter bearing loosely against the outer side of the former. The lever, therefore, does not interfere with the insertion or removal of the movement, the shank of the winding-pinion being easily inserted in the orifice in the lever in inserting the movement, while the windingstem is applied in the usual manner.

If de sired, the lever may be applied to a movementholding ring or band placed Within the ease-center.

1. A watch-case having a longitudinallymovable winding-stem and a lever connected at one end to the case at one side 01' the windingstem and extending across the inner end of said stem without engagement therewith, so that it will be moved only by an inward movement of said stern, as set forth.

2. In a stem winding and setting watch, the combination of the yoke having the Settingwheel (Z, a spring whereby the yoke is non mally held in position to make said wheel in operative, the longitudinal winding-stem, a lever connected at one end to the case and extending across the inner end of the winding stem without a positive connection therewith, and a connection, substantially as described, between the swinging end of said lever and the yoke, whereby an inward movement of the winding-stem is caused to move the yoke against the pressure of its spring into handsetting position, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 5th day of May, 1885.

lEDlVARD A. MARSH. \Vitncsses:

E. O. FI'reI-r, G. F. BROWN. 

